News

2013-10-21

AFRICA/CONGO DR - There is still no news of the 3 Assumptionists kidnapped a year ago. In the area there are 800 abducted persons

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - There is still no news of the 3 Assumptionists (Augustinians of the Assumption) kidnapped exactly a year ago of Congolese nationality, Jean -Pierre Ndulani, Anselme Wasikundi and Edmond Bamutute, who disappeared on the evening of 19 October 2012 (see Fides 22/10/2012) in their parish Notre-Dame des Pauvres Mbau, 22 km from Beni, North Kivu (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo).
Their case is not isolated because according to a statement sent to Fides by the Provincial Coordination of Civil Society of North Kivu, at least 800 people have so far been abducted in the territory of Beni.
The lastest case concerns Dr. Augustin Mutsunga, a health center doctor from Maboya . "If the majority of kidnappings are attributed to the ADF-Nalu/Al Shabaab terrorist coalition, others are the work of Mai-Mai militias and unidentified armed gangs" the statement said.
ADF-NALU (Allied Democratic Forces - National Army for the Liberation of Uganda) is a Ugandan rebel coalition that has long laid its bases on Congolese territory.
The Provincial Coordination of Civil Society of North Kivu has urged the population to organize masses or moments of prayer in memory of all those kidnapped in the region. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 21/10/2013)